Cracked my Dean!

There is a crack in the weld on the seat stay and a crack on the disc tab. I am going crazy with no bike and Dean ain't callin'. I have heard good and bad about this company so I still have some hope. They already said they will charge me for repair because I don't have a receipt from 5 years ago.

Funny you should ask. I am waiting on my new/used 2007 Yeti 575. I am going crazy with no freakin' bike We are in the middle of our 'season' down here in Florida!

Anywhoo, as far as Dean goes, they are not answering my email. I have called but they don't answer the phone and the mailbox is full, so I couldn't leave a message. I was actually wondering if they are even still in business.

Small businesses can't afford phone banks, but they should answer within a week, and shouldn't leave their voice mailbox full. I don't know how big Dean is, but if very small (one or two man outfit) they may be on vacation.

If they're going to charge you for the repair, you may as well take it to another frame builder. I thought there were a couple of businesses that fixed exotic material frames. I'm drawing a blank names, though.

not the most responsive but...

So I have been dealing with John at Dean for some time now...they have built me a sweet steel SS with sliders and are in the process (hopefully) of a Ti version. John can be very hard to get a hold of (he was apparently just out of the country for a bit). I too have left multiple email and voice mails for him. He does eventually call and has been super helpful once he does…I have on multiple occasions tried to stress how important good customer service is...simple communication.
The plus side of all of this is that their work is excellent (especially for the price) and he seems like a real stand up guy. I assume they are busy getting ready for NAHBS (not that that excuses customer service) so that could be compounding the non-responsiveness.
I have been very happy with my Dean product, less than satisfied with the response times…but at the end of the day, they offer a great product at a great price and my cheap a$$ is willing to deal with that for the time being.

So I have been dealing with John at Dean for some time now...they have built me a sweet steel SS with sliders and are in the process (hopefully) of a Ti version. John can be very hard to get a hold of (he was apparently just out of the country for a bit). I too have left multiple email and voice mails for him. He does eventually call and has been super helpful once he does…I have on multiple occasions tried to stress how important good customer service is...simple communication.
The plus side of all of this is that their work is excellent (especially for the price) and he seems like a real stand up guy. I assume they are busy getting ready for NAHBS (not that that excuses customer service) so that could be compounding the non-responsiveness.
I have been very happy with my Dean product, less than satisfied with the response times…but at the end of the day, they offer a great product at a great price and my cheap a$$ is willing to deal with that for the time being.

Dean, Wtf?

I wouldn't count on your frame coming back anytime soon. They'll give you the run around for weeks and weeks. They don't return phone calls or emails in a timely manner and have taken 3 months to repair my frame, all while making excuses.

And this isn't the first time. In 2007, when I found a crack, they took over 4 months to get me a replacement.

They have the worst customer service of any company I have EVER dealt with.

Here's a letter I sent to them...

John-

I am so incredibly frustrated with you and your company. You have shown that you have absolutely no regard for customer service and continue to just push the limits on delaying my frame repairs, further and further. When we last spoke on the phone, you assured me that Sam would get working on it "right away" until it was done. That was several weeks ago. When I inquired about its status in an email (a week ago Monday), you said Sam would most likely finish and ship it out by last Friday, February 19th. Now, you are hedging against the NAHBS and "will keep me posted" in hopes that Sam will get it finished before you depart this Friday.

My friend had his Carl Strong frame shipped out, with a cracked head tube and top tube. It was repaired and shipped back to him in 10 days! You've had my frame for 11 weeks and 2 days. I am not a frame builder, but I do know that it doesn't take that long. I know you claim to be busy, but rest assured so is Carl Strong. Fortunately for my friend, Carl had the courtesy to repair a customer's frame in a timely manner and not make excuses along the way. He just repaired the frame promptly and stood behind his work. The same goes for another custom frame builder, Siren Bikes. They repaired a second friend's frame, in January, and had it back to him in under three weeks.

Things have been different with you and your company. You told me on several occasions that it would be done by "X date", and each time it wasn't. When I first spoke with you, I was explicit in asking if it would be done by the time I had my 24 hour endurance race in mid February. You assured me that it wouldn't be a problem. You even had the audacity to tell me in late December that my frame was actually in the jig and being repaired at that moment! I was told it would ship out the first week of January. Obviously, that was not the case. But what's worse is that you didn't get my frame back to me before my race in February. Even with 2 months of lead time!

So, here we are. Its February 24th and you are not sure that my frame will be repaired and shipped before you head to the NAHBS on Friday. I have been without a frame since the second week of December and have missed a good majority of the riding season in Arizona. Not one person that I have spoken to thinks that this situation is even remotely acceptable. Riding partners have been using the Dean name as a slang term for when someone wrongs you or screws you over, as in "Dude, you got Deaned!" Its laughable to an absurd degree.

Standing behind the quality of your work is one thing, but providing quality customer service to your existing customers is essential to your company's success. I simply do not understand how you can proceed the way you have in regards to repairing my frame and expect that this is good for you and your company. I belong to three mountain biking groups in Arizona, and not one person from those groups feels that this is within bounds for a frame builder, custom or not. It is simply unacceptable.

If you can't find it in your company's best interest to repair my frame (per our discussions - see attached) and ship it out to me via next day air (before the NAHBS), then please refund the original purchase price of the frame to me so I can purchase another frame from a more reputable frame builder. At this point, I am considering posting this letter, our prior email correspondence and recaps of phone discussions to MTBR.com and other mountain bike sites to let the community know just how poor your customer service has been.

With deepest frustration,

HCooper

John-

Here's a recap of what we discussed.

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1. Frame will be repaired by replacing the entire top tube and the upper portion of the seat tube (with a thicker-walled section of ti tubing) to just above the bottle cage mounts.

2. Repair/fill, as needed, the driveside chainstay where chain suck has gouged out the tubing. File smooth.

3. Frame will be refinished in 'brush finish'.

4. New 'carbon panel' decals will be applied.

5. Include an extra rear derailleur hanger with frame when shipped.
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may your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. may your mountains rise into and above the clouds.
-edward abbey

Man I can relate to your situation so much, that I could have probably written the letter for you.

It blows my mind that he can have such disregard...

I think it comes down to one of two things...either he is so swamped with god knows what that he doesn't really care, sort of resting on his laurels...or, financially as a business he is hanging by a thread. I really hope it is not the latter...

Like I said he seems like a good guy and he makes a great product but man I wish he could get his crap together

@hcooper: It doesn't help to have a 10 page love letter written about your deep love and frustrations - you could've just typed, "you lazy bastard!" to say the exact same thing and effect.

No comparisons even needed. Like the other posters have concluded, "Is Dean even in business?" If not, then soon with their work ethic and customer relations.

Poor coop was just venting. I think we'd all be plenty hot if these things happened to us. Everybody seems to love Dean bikes. It's too bad he can't seem to find time to correct his mistakes. But you're right, Dean might spend so much time reading that he doesn't have time to fix the bike

When I saw...

your thread, i thought awe ****.........here we go again. Man, I feel for you. The process you're about to endure will try your patience more than it's probably ever been tried before. Good bikes = yes, Good customer service = FAR FROM IT.

This is a post that I wrote in response to HCooper's post in another forum.

I'm sorry to hear about your situation, and can fully relate. I cracked the headtube on my Dean Colonel 29er at the end of January 09'. I talked with John on the phone, and he said once they recieved the frame I would have it back in 3-4 weeks. I knew this was probably not actually going to happen, but, I tried to not let all the negative reviews I had read about the company cloud my judgement. So, I sent it back. And I waited, and waited, and called (no answer), and emailed (no repsonse), and waited, and, well, you get the point. I had a summer Colorado trip planned for July the 4th weekend. I thought surely I'll have my frame back before then. So I called some more. June rolls around and still no frame. I was told once the frame went to repair, it would take about a week to repair it. I thought WTF???? for a tiny crack in the headtube weld. But, again, they're the 'experts' so I just bit my tounge and went on about my business.

The middle of June rolls around and I finally get them to answer the phone at 10:00 a.m. I am told that they just hired a new welder since production had grown, and he would start on it that day. At noon I got a call from John saying my frame will be shipped back to me that day. O.K. I was told it would take a week once repair began, and 2 hours later they're done???? Hmm....

I love the bike, but dread the next time I ever have to deal with those guys!

Has anyone checked out Mosaic Cycles?

Check out www.mosaiccycles.com
looks like some former Dean guys went out on thier own. Nick Phillips was the guy who built my last steel Dean...great builder and a really nice guy. An from what i can find on the interwebs, Aaron was the head guy for quite a while.

I hope they took away all the good stuff from Dean and left all the bad (customer service) behind

Interesting...thanks for the word on Mosaic. I live on the Front Range and I'm always looking to support local businesses. Nice to have another option to check out. I've heard enough about Dean in this thread to never do business with them. Good customer service is essential, not optional, and it sounds like they haven't figured that out.